Swilled Dog cidery to open new facility

Swilled Dog Hard Cider Company will hold the grand opening of its new 20,000 sq. ft. tasting room and production facility in Upper Tract, WV on the weekend of April 26-28. The family-owned cidery will offer cider tastings, food, facility tours, live music, and a cornhole tournament.

Barry Glover, one of the company’s owners and Director of Operations, says the grand opening weekend will be a family affair. “This is an exciting weekend for us that has been in the works for quite some time and has had the involvement of a lot of people from the local community.”

Swilled Dog announced that Saturday, April 27th, will be the biggest day of the weekend with giveaways planned from Swilled Dog and other local businesses in the area, music by local bands and a DJ; food provided by Hank’s fly’n Pig food truck; meet & greet with the Swilled Mascot, Lucy Pickles; facility tours; a ribbon-cutting ceremony; and more. Sunday will feature their first annual Swilled Cornhole Tournament.

Brooke Glover, Swilled Dog’s Director of Sales and Marketing, sees the new facility as a way to introduce many more people to Swilled Dog products. “We want our facility to be a regional destination that showcases West Virginia’s incredible ability to make award-winning craft cider as well as craft beverages.”

Swilled Dog Hard Cider will introduce four new ciders at the grand opening event. Their taproom will also feature craft beers from West Virginia breweries.

Swilled Dog shows marketing prowess

Since opening in 2016, Swilled Dog has been by far one of the best marketed craft beverages in the state. They were the first state winery/cidery to widely distribute their product in kegs that were compatible with retailer draft systems. They were the first winery/cidery to offer their product in cans.

Their product lineup normally includes a few special or seasonal releases to go along with three flagships. Flagships include Walk the Dog Semi-Dry Cider, Caramel Apple Sweet Cider, and Bunny Slope Hopped Cider. Popular seasonals have included Pineapple Semi-Sweet Cider and Rosè Semi-Dry Cider. The ABVs on their products are 6.9%.

Brooke Glover is due a bunch of credit for the company’s marketing success. Her industry colleagues have recognized her expertise by electing her as Vice-President of the Executive Committee for the U.S. Association of Cider Makers (USACM). She currently serves as an at-large Board Member and is working to raise awareness of the cider industry throughout the country. In addition, Glover serves as the Chair of the USACM Marketing Committee and serves on the Legislative Committee for the board.

Swilled Dog info & links

For more information check out the company website or follow their Facebook page.

Swilled Dog Hard Cider Company (new facility)
28 Industrial Park Road
Upper Tract, WV

Upper Tract, West Virginia is located in the mountains of Pendleton County in the state’s eastern Potomac Highlands. It is about a 2 ½ hour drive from Washington, DC or Morgantown and about 3 hours and 45 minutes from Charleston.